Rounding up the best of Cipher in 2024
Latest NewsCatch up on any of our favorite articles you missed throughout the year
This was a big year for the energy transition and a busy year for Cipher. It was probably a busy year for you, too, so we’ve rounded up some of our favorite articles from 2024 and offer them to you here for easy reading.
In these pieces, arranged chronologically from the year’s beginning, you’ll get a sense of Cipher’s global scope. Our reporters and Voices authors shared dispatches from China, India, the Philippines, Romania, Azerbaijan, regions of Africa — and of course many places closer to home.
We looked at so many solutions for climate change, including artificial intelligence, solar panels in space, hydrogen manufacturing, nuclear’s renaissance and everything wind and solar. We covered many important related issues, too, including geopolitical tension, critical-mineral shortages, regulatory hiccups and the energy transition’s impact on workers.
And let’s not forget U.S. politics. In our exclusive Cleantech Tracker, which we recently expanded, we map how the Biden administration’s signature climate law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, fuels investments in cleantech across the United States.
Then in November, we looked at how the incoming Trump administration might shape energy policy next year.
We hope you enjoy this compilation. Read it, bookmark it, share it — and let us know what you think! We’re planning even more and better coverage in 2025.
In India, battery swapping fuels electric market for 2 and 3 wheels
By Bill Spindle
February 6
The energy transition looks different around the world; this piece suggests that countries in the west could learn from innovations happening in other regions, like in India.
Global energy watchdog puts on climate ‘referee’ hat
By Anca Gurzu
February 21
This colorful profile of the International Energy Agency, one of the most influential multilateral organizations, tracks its rise, its mission and its critics at a pivotal moment in the energy transition.
AI teeters between climate boon and energy burden
By Cat Clifford
March 20
This article delves into the heated debate over the huge impact artificial intelligence will have on energy demand, on the one hand, and on the development of new climate solutions on the other.
How we know the energy transition is here
By Amy Harder
April 15
Partnering with her alma mater, Western Washington University, Amy points to the high-level trends showing how the energy transition is underway.
How we can fix the electrician shortage
By Tracy K. Price
May 1
The energy transition will depend on people with the skills to install electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps, solar panels and more. In this Voices article, Qmerit founder and CEO Tracy K. Price shares how we can meet the growing need for electricians.
Africa’s clean hydrogen path must begin with clearing the hype
By Meron Tesfaye
June 10
African countries have a lot to gain, and a lot to lose, when it comes to the nascent clean hydrogen industry, writes Meron Tesfaye, senior policy analyst at the Energy for Growth Hub. This article was part of a trend this year of checking the hype around hydrogen.
Get to know this secret climate tech star
By Cat Clifford
June 21
Developing and transitioning to a low-carbon economy is a monumental task that can feel overwhelming. But a collection of ambitious, indomitable individuals, such as the MIT scientist profiled here, are facing the challenge by taking it one step at a time.
Extreme weather prompts growth of parametric insurance, offering faster, more flexible payments after disasters
By Bill Spindle
July 12
This article, co-published with the Associated Press, explains a unique approach to insurance that helps farmers withstand the extreme weather impacts of climate change.
Nuclear energy could undergo a renaissance. Here’s what to know.
By Cat Clifford
August 2
Nuclear energy gained a lot of momentum this year, a trend likely to continue into 2025. Big technology companies led the way, eager for the always-on, carbon-free electricity nuclear provides as they seek to power energy-hungry AI while trying to meet their climate goals.
Demand is growing for hydrogen-making electrolyzers. What exactly are they?
By Amena H. Saiyid
August 12
Cipher’s Cleantech Tracker, which maps the production and use of emerging clean technologies across the United States, often reveals interesting topics to cover. This was one of them: Cipher visited two California factories making electrolyzers, the machines that use electricity to split water to make hydrogen, to provide an up-close look at how this burgeoning technology works.
India’s clean-energy push stalls over China tensions
By Anuradha Varansi
September 4
This story highlights how the global energy transition writ large is intricately affected by geopolitics, economics and, ironically, extreme weather itself.
Space solar inspires hope and skepticism as it inches closer to reality
How to get solar power from space
By Anca Gurzu
September 9 & 11
This two-part series explores the opportunities and challenges of humanity’s ambition to source solar power straight from space. It’s a deep dive into the challenging physics and technology, explained so anyone can understand.
China hit its wind and solar goal six years early
By Xiaoying You
September 18
China is far and away the global leader on renewable energy. It also is struggling to hook all that clean energy up to its grid — one reason it remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels like coal.
Pennsylvania schools turn to solar for a cleaner — cheaper — future
By Amena H. Saiyid
October 14
This article gives a hopeful look at the future of clean energy — but also shows how pocketbook issues like high grocery and electricity bills are what voters think about at the ballot box, much more than clean buses or solar panels.
As coal plants shut in Romania, some miners transition to green energy while others are reluctant
By Anca Gurzu
October 23
Cipher’s reporting from Romania’s mining region, co-published with the Associated Press, profiled one coal miners’ shift to the renewables industry and the impact of coming change in a still-traditional and reluctant community of miners.
Why cleantech is booming in GOP-led states
By Amena H. Saiyid
October 30
Cleantech developers and manufacturers have been flocking to Republican-led states. This article dives into why that is the case — and why there’s a good chance that trend will continue.
With Donald Trump victory, here are his energy and climate positions
By Tory Lysik and Amena H. Saiyid
November 6
The day after the U.S. presidential election, Cipher’s visual storytelling team laid out Donald Trump’s energy and climate positions in a quick and easy-to-understand way.
How to improve life for humanity — and not worsen global warming
By Cat Clifford
November 13
This story explains clearly why the energy transition is an existential and very human issue, in part because energy and economic growth go hand in hand.